Back Yard Farming ...a way to be free?

[zeemike]

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Going back is sometimes the only way forward.

[nineteen50]

1. Freaking

awesome.

[paleotn]

2. That's an afirm.

...very impressive. Shows you don't have to live in east Egypt to be more self sufficient and softer on the environment. Thanks for sharing.

[zeemike]

4. Thank you

And that was my thought to...it shows what can be done.

[freshwest]

3. Always true. Nothing like picking your own produce right out of the garden.

The feeling of freedom from not having shopped, driven, carried it back and forth, dealing with their packaging, just feels great.

And you know what's in it. My gardens have always been organic and everything tasted great.

I really miss having a garden now.

[zeemike]

5. Not to mention the health benefits.

Not only from the food but from just being out in nature and a part of it.

[freshwest]

7. It is my vision of 'heaven' or 'paradise' whatever one want to say. A joyful, healing experience.

Love to water the plants. And watch the chickens go to work.

[pasto76]

6. you dont have to go all in on self sufficiency

but you learn a ton of stuff from those who have. Check out permies.com and urban farm magazine - my two favorites in this genre. Good thing about 'self sufficiency' is that is it is usually pretty easy on the wallet. The make up is time. Oh no, more time tending the yard and garden. With the 3 year old in tow. I know, it sounds awful.

[zeemike]

9. I have seen a number of their videos

Some very interesting stuff....and interesting people doing it.

[Cleita]

8. I hope they don't get a visit from the zoning dept. for having barnyard animals

within the city limits. It used to be banned when I lived down there. I actually have suggested in my area, since people have food gardens on their properties here, that they should get together once a week and exchange their extra produce and fruit. That could be an extension of this idea.

[bvar22]

10. In 2006, my Wife & I moved to The Woods...

...and started growing our own food.
We have about 1/2 acre under balanced cultivation,
and after 7 years, produce less than 1/2 of our food.

While the idea of Growing Your Own to Save Money is appealing,
it is very difficult to grow your own food,
and come out ahead of what you pay at the Supermarket.

It takes several years of up front money spent just on basic infrastructure like tools, fencing, tilling, soil prep, grow lights and tables for seed starts or a green house, etc.

If you BUY seedling "starts" instead of starting your own seeds, that cost has to be figured in, along with any expensive "organic" pesticides, fertilizers, and support stakes for plants like tomatoes.

Even if you achieve a closed loop of compost, seed stock, good soil,
and reusable infrastructure, once Labor & Sweat is factored in,
most people would do much better financially working in the Fast Food Drive-Up Window, and then shopping at the super market for their food.

It is usually NOT cheaper to grow your own,
but there are a number of other very good reasons for doing so.
Health Concerns aside, we would do this for the TASTE only.

--bvar22 & Starkraven
Living Well on a low "taxable" income
and stuff we learned in the 60s

[zeemike]

12. It has to be a long term plan.

Especially where the soil is exhausted or poor, but you can have some good results in the short term too...and it looks like you have a fine garden there.
The best garden I ever had was when I had access to cow manure...and I had raised beds and in the winter I filled the walkways with manure and let it set over the winter and in the spring dug it out and threw it into the raised beds and mulched the plants with spoiled hay...after only a few years the soil was so rich I could grow anything and used no pesticides or fertilizer at all...and raised all plants from seed....and it cost me very little.

[Cleita]

22. I'm able to get compost fortified with cow and horse manure at our nearby

agri college at a very small cost. I can also get seeds, seedlings and plants in their student run nursery there, all of it organically grown. Although, I grow mostly ornamentals and since I have a gopher problem, I grow salad greens in containers. The lettuces are so much more tender and tastier than the supermarket varieties and of course, as everyone knows, the tomatoes are wonderful.

[bvar22]

29. Be very careful of Horse and Cow manure.

Unless the cows are 100% Organic Pasture Grazed by and "Organic" farmer,
the manure can contain AntiBiotics, Steroids, Hormones, residual pesticides and herbicides,
and if they have been fed Commercial Feeds, gawd knows what else,
even GM corn contaminants.

Agri Colleges can be the worst offenders.
Their research departments are usually funded by Agri-Business,
and who knows what they have been experimentally feeding their cows to promote quick & cheap growth.

Don't mean to scare you, but it is worth checking out.

[Cleita]

30. Thanks. I do need to ask some questions. n/t

[bvar22]

36. There are so many things we have to guard against in this "modern" world.

(from the last issue of Mother Earth News)
A Kindred Spirit bought a bale of Spring hay at the local Feed Store to use as mulch in his garden. Spring Hay is a great mulch because if it has been cut early enough, it doesn't contain the Seed Tops that will sow your garden with weeds.
He had a terrible year, nothing grew. Even the weeds died, and he couldn't figure out why,
until he discovered that the hay he had used for mulch was contaminated with a herbicide.

Turns out, that hay farmer had used a powerful herbicide to kill the broad leaf weeds in his hay field. The Grass Hay that field produced made beautiful, attractive, weed free bales of hay..... that was toxic to vegetable gardens.

We live about a mile away from the local Cattle Sale Barn.
There is a huge pile of manure, free for the taking, piled along side the holding pens.
It is very tempting, but we don't dare touch it because we don't know what those animals have been fed.

It is kinda funny, and shows how much our values change as we get older.
We now drive by a huge pile of shit, and say,"Ohh, man. I want some of THAT!"

I don't mean to sound like a big cynic in this thread,
its just that since we took the Leap-of-Faith in 2006,
it HAS been huge learning experience.
It is nowhere as easy or cheap as we once believed.

It will take twice as long,
cost 3 times as much,
and require 5 times as much sweat & labor
as your most conservative estimate.

We haven't regretted a single day.

[flamin lib]

19. Thank you for that! From someone who grew up on a South Texas

dirt farm I can salute that. It's work. A whole lota' work.

Organic? Sounds great 'til the bugs come and wipe out your crop overnight. That makes for a long hungry season.

[Atman]

11. We're doing an organic farm this year.

We live in the boonies. Our town offers community garden space. We have a 30 x 30 foot plot, doing "square foot gardening." everything must be organic, according to the cg rules. We're growing our own food this year!

[Mopar151]

13. Subsistence agriculture is not that cost-effective

It can be done, but you gotta be frugal. But when you do it for taste, it does'nt have to cost all that much at once, and the food gets ggooodddddd... I could go on, but Guy Clark does it so well.......

Much like homegrown tomatos, the appearance may be slightly flawed, but the taste can't be beat!

[zeemike]

14. Cost effective is all in the figuring

and how it is done...
If you have to buy all kinds of tools and stuff to do it it can be costly...
But if you don't and use techniques used by poor people in the good old days it will cost you little except your labor...and that is not a bad thing in this day where we pay to go to the gym to get our exercise.
If we merely spent that gym time digging a garden we could have a big one.
And actually if it cost you anything you are not doing it right.,,all you really need is a shovel a hoe and some seeds...and that is to get started...after that you don't need anything more.

[Mopar151]

15. A Navajo might say I am from the Big Gardens people

I challenge you to find a tomato growing container better than a Hoosier racing slick with 1 sidewall cut out, it's the perfect size for the round tomato trellis all the farm stores sell. The black tire helps solar energy warm the soil, which tomatos love.
Sections of old scaffolding make an excellent trellis for vines and climbers, like telephone peas and cucumbers, and the skids riding mowers are shipped on are super for raspberries.
New potatos and freshly picked peas are a gourmet meal beyond compare. I cannot stand the taste of a pea preserved more than about 3 hours from picking. OTOH, the return on investment of money, time, and sweat to grow potatos to keep over winter is far from optimum.

[zeemike]

17. New potatoes and peas...

one of my favorite things...and only available once a year.
But I love peas even frozen....but not canned.

[midnight]

16. Those are some talented people....

[Oerdin]

18. That couple are doomsday preppers.

While I like what they've done with their urban farm the reality is that family is a well known dooms day prepper family with some freaky ideas about the end of the world being just around the corner. That's why everything is hand powered and why they try to produce everything themselves. The end result is pretty good but the nutty right wing politics behind it is pretty scary stuff. Check out their website called urban homesteading.

BTW they are trying to copyright the common use term "urban homesteading" and they go around suing anyone and everyone who dares to use the term. They're all frivolous lawsuits but most hippies with a backyard garden can't afford $50,000 to fight their lawsuits so the extortionists in the video win.

[Civilization2]

20. language is free for all or none at all!

Yes the amount of (c) simple on the web site is ridiculous,. and the terms they are claiming 'ownership' of are general and are free to use the idea of language ownership is anti-freedom,. you would think right-wingnuts would get that eh.

as far a doomsday; well logical boy-scout style preparedness is not crazy,. i saw no refferances to 'doomsday' on their site, (in five minuets of looking), but cheep oil IS ending, and off-grid is wise and logical for those forward looking.

[zeemike]

21. "doomsday preppers."

That is a new category of people I am not familiar with...did you just make that up or did someone make it up for you?...and once labeled a doomsday prepper does that mean all is dismissed as crazy talk?

I myself don't give a shit if they are trying to copyright some words...it is done all the time...I judge them on what they have done...
So you think I can't use the term without getting sued?...

[progressoid]

23. There are lots of forums for preppers and even a TV show on National Geo Channel

[zeemike]

24. And they define it for you?

there are also lots of real people with real good ideas and actions...
Here is one.
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[progressoid]

28. I was just responding to your query about doomsday preppers.

They are a real group of people. I don't define them. They define themselves.

Whether the people in your OP are preppers or not, I don't know. Clearly Myrna and Earl in the video above are not Alex Jones, end-of-the-world type preppers. Just sensible farmers.

[kestrel91316]

31. I can't believe that you are actually picking a fight in a thread about GARDENING. Sheesh.

[zeemike]

32. Picking a fight?

I can't believe you actually think that.

[drynberg]

25. Home Grown in Maine

Since 1974 we've had a large garden and grow about half of our food, it's so much better to eat...and it's fun to watch stuff grow, year after year I never tire of it. We've moved to 4 different places and just get re-established. Current place has been home on 1/2 acre 10 miles north of Portland Me.

[zeemike]

26. Yep it really is a lifestyle.

Or it used to be...there was a time not long ago when practically everyone did that.

[zebonaut]

27. Love it

But I grew up in the 'burbs; and all we ever had were lawn mowers and weed killers. It would never have gone over in our suburban green lawnville; every house a copy of the other

[zeemike]

33. Yep...I have lived there.

Little boxes made out of ticky tacky and they all look just the same.

But I grew up in a small town, whee most everyone had a garden in the back and canned fruit and veggies and meat for the winter months...and most had a basement where they stored it all.

[DeSwiss]

34. K&R

http://www.permies.com

[zeemike]

35. That is an interesting idea.

An example of long term thinking...the real benefits are down the road.
But agriculture has always been about adapting and inventing...

[DeSwiss]

37. My son's putting one in now....

...so we'll see, I guess.

Now this guy and this guy are both veritable founts of info on other grow-forms I'm interested in.

- This, is the future.....